


From The Last Word to The Last Chapter of Our Journey

by 102000QP



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Crime, F/F, Hurt, Romance, Suspense, spoilers for most episodes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-03-10 07:08:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13497206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/102000QP/pseuds/102000QP
Summary: The what-ifs from Criminal Minds. What if both JJ and Reid were taken by Tobias Hankel or what if only Hotch knew that Emily survived Doyle. Will become Jemily. contains spoilers for quite a few episodes.





	1. The Last Word

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,  
> Some of you might recognize this work, I have also posted it on FF.net. I decided to also create an account on this site for future multiple crossover stories and to hear you guys opinion on my work. I love getting feedback, it makes me a better writer and helps me with improving my English (it's not my first language). Please let me know if you spot a mistake and enjoy the story, more chapters will be up soon if there's interest.  
> 102000QP

Elbert Hubbard once wrote, "If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate."  
________________________________________

I’m so glad that after all this time I’m finally getting the chance to work at the BAU, I think as I walk up the stairs towards the office of Agent Hotchner. After a quick check of my clothes I knock on the door to his office and he answers “Come in”

I open the door and enter his office “Agent Hotchner?” I ask, to make sure that it is really him and I’m speaking with the right person.

“Yes” he says, as he stands up out of his chair and puts out his hand for me to shake.

I put my hand out as well while I tell him “I’m Agent Emily Prentiss” and we shake hands.

“How do you do?” he asks and after thinking for a moment he asks “Oh, you’re ambassador Prentiss’ daughter, right? I did security clearances for your mother’s staff. It was one of my first commands. I believe you were off to Brown at the time”

I had really hoped to do a bit longer without someone mentioning my mother, but I can’t help myself and correct him “Actually, it was Yale”

“Ah” he says.

I tell him “I have been in the bureau for almost 10 years now” well at least that is what my file created by the CIA says.

He sort of jokingly states “Don’t tell me it has been that long”

“Apparently Sir, but I worked mostly in the Midwest. St. Louis, Chicago” I say, not really knowing why I said it since he read my file before hiring me.

It’s awkwardly silent for a second “Your parents well?” he asks, but I can see that it’s more out of courtesy than real interest and I don’t blame him.

“Yeah, yeah, they’re great” I say while this is getting more and more awkward. I look around his office a bit, not knowing what to say.

“Excellent” another awkward pause falls “What can I do for you?” he finally asks to my relief.

“Ah, well, I guess I was hoping that you could tell me where to put my stuff”

“I’m sorry?”

Maybe he forgot so I tell him while grabbing my transfer papers “I’m supposed to start here today. At the BAU” and I hand over the papers.

He tells me “There has been a mistake”

I feel my excitement ebbing away “I don’t think so sir”

“There’s definitely been a mistake” he says.

I hear a knock on the door before a beautiful blond comes in “Oh, excuse me. We’re getting started”

“Thank you, I’ll be right there” Agent Hotchner tells her and she leaves the room.

He refocuses on me and says “I didn’t approve this transfer, Agent Prentiss. I’m sorry for the confusion, but you have been misinformed” he gives back the papers “Excuse me, it was very good to see you again” he leaves the room and I walk after him. He walks away and I hear him ask another Agent “Did you approve any transfers?”

The other one looks at me before saying “No, I would have discussed it”

“That’s what I thought” they continue talking as they walk away but I can’t hear them anymore. As they walk into a room, I decide to go home, but I’m not giving up.

________________________________________  
FOUR DAYS LATER

He walks into his office and doesn’t immediately notice me. When he turns he says “Please don’t tell me you have been there for the last four days”

“I heard you were flying back tonight” I tell him, not letting him know that I had indeed been waiting here for four days. Or that I was sad when I found out that the blond went with them on the case.

“Heard? How, how could you have heard a thing like that?” He asks confused.

“This was dropped off today” I tell him and hand over the file.

He looks a bit flabbergasted before saying “I appreciate you interest Agent, but profiling is a specialty. We can just give anyone who wants it give it a whirl”

I bet that if I could just tell him I have been profiling for the last 10 years, it would be a lot easier. Since that isn’t possible I fall back on just showing him I can profile “The I-80 killer? Coeds in Indiana?”

“Yes, I read it on the plane” he says getting annoyed.

“They aren’t blitz attacks. This guy’s organized. White male, early thirties and a smooth talker, because even after 11 victims he can still convince educated women, who know that there’s a predator out there, to get in his car”

For the first time I see him looking a bit impressed. He asks “How would you advise the police?”

I’m sure that he is testing me now and I answer “I would stake out the Ranch house, a nightclub in Gary, they have a very popular ladies night on Thursdays. If you look closely you see that 8 out of the 11 victims went missing on a Friday. So something gets this creep’s motor running on Thursdays” I pause before telling him “This isn’t a whirl, Agent Hotchner. I don’t know how the paperwork got screwed up or maybe you believe that my parents pulled some strings, which they didn’t, by the way. I belong in this unit and all I’m asking you for is the chance to show you that” I wait for his answer.

“I still need to look into this, I’m not promising anything” He says, but I can see his features softening a little at my demonstration.

“Understood” I say relieved.

“We brief new cases every morning at 10 AM. You can see facility managers about a desk”

“You won’t be sorry” I promise him. I grab my stuff and try to contain the smile that is threatening to show on my face.

“Agent Prentiss” I hear him call after me.

I stop immediately, did he change his mind? “Yes sir?” I ask nonetheless.

“Tomorrow at 7.30 AM Agent Jareau will brief you on protocol”

“Yes sir” I say and I really hope that Agent Jareau is the beautiful blond.

________________________________________  
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Remember that all through history there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seemed invincible. But in the end they always fall. Always."


	2. Lesson Learned

Dale Turner mused, "Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future."  
________________________________________  
EMILY P.O.V.

At 7.25 the next morning I’m in the bullpen. I go to Agent Jareau’s office, which I already found yesterday. Her office is the only one where the lights are on. I decide to just go for it. My heart stops beating for a moment when I see that she is the one I hoped she was “Agent Jareau?”

“Yes”

“I’m Emily Prentiss”

“Oh yeah, you’re here for the protocol briefing, right?” she asks me.

“Yeah”

“Well come in and sit down” I comply “Let me start with saying, welcome to the team and please call me JJ”

“Then you can call me Emily” I tell her.

“You can use the desk that is empty. Now let’s start with the ten most boring minutes of your life” and she starts to brief me on the protocol. After exactly ten minutes she asks “Well how boring was it?”

I give her a small smile and I tell her “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I have had more boring minutes in my life”

“Seriously, how?” She asks amazed.

“Well, try political parties, especially when you’re a child”

“I can imagine that” she laughs “Want some coffee?”

“Always”

“How long have you been here?”

“I moved here about three months ago”

Before we can continue JJ her phone rings “Agent Jareau”

“I’ll call the team. Thanks” she hangs up and says “We have a case. I’m going to call Hotch”  
________________________________________  
“Everybody, meet Agent Prentiss” agent Hotchner introduces me to the rest of the team.

“Derek Morgan” he says while shaking my hand.

“Emily Prentiss” I tell him out of habit.

“We can make nice later” Agent Hotchner says while sitting down.

After telling us the basics of the case, JJ shows us a paper that was recovered. I see that it’s in Arabic and without thinking I grab it. “That’s not the transcript, it’s-”

“No, it’s in Arabic” I interrupt her and i start to translate it. When I’m done I see them all staring at me. I tell them “I lived in several middle eastern countries growing up”

Before I can leave the conference room, JJ stops me and asks “Why did you live in Middle east when you were a kid?”

“My mother is an ambassador, so I lived in a lot of countries growing up” I explain.

Apparently my answer interested her and she asks me “What languages do you know?”

“Well except Arabic and obviously English, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Dutch and I can get by with Russian”

“Holy Crap, how can you remember that?”

“I like languages and I find it easy to remember them” I tell her and we see agent Gideon come in.

He asks “Do you have a ready bag?”

“Yes Sir”

“Car leaves in four minutes” he says in a gruff voice, I don't think he likes it that I'm joining him. I guess I'll have to thank agent Hotchner when I have time.

“Yes Sir” I answer him.

“I won’t keep you up any longer, good luck” JJ says and she turns around and walks to her office.

“Thanks” I walk to my desk to get my bag before continuing my way to the elevators.

The car ride to the airport is a bit awkward with Reid spouting out statistics  
________________________________________  
JJ P.O.V.

When Emily came in this morning I was surprised it was her. Hotch didn’t look to happy with her standing in his office yesterday. For the first time since I work at the BAU I wasn’t really bored with explaining protocol.

During the briefing on the case she really surprised us all with speaking Arabic and I certainly didn’t expect her to speak 8 languages. I hope that everything will go alright and that she can stay. I have a feeling that she will be a great fit in the team and I already developed a bit of a crush on her.  
________________________________________  
EMILY P.O.V.

Once we are on the plane things get a little less awkward. Gideon and Reid are playing chess. Reid asks “Do you think the interrogation of Jind Allah will work in time?”

Gideon shrugs his shoulders and says “Interrogation’s the most dynamic form of profiling”

“That’s not an answer” I say before I can help myself. Gideon stares at me and I quickly add “Sir” Reid looks surprised by Gideon’s actions. That gives me a tiny bit of hope.  
Gideon tells us what he wants us to do.

As we arrive at Gitmo, we are greeted by Agent Bingaman. As we are watching Jind Allah through the mirror, I immediately notice something “He’s reciting the Quran from memory. He’s most likely a Hafez” Agent Bingaman tells us he has done that at least a dozen of times.

When Reid notices the cuts and bruises on his face, Gideon asks Agent Bingaman about it and he immediately answers “I control the actions to the detainees, but I can assure you, my protests about their actions has been ignored”

Gideon tells him to let the CIA continue like they would normally do. After about a minute, Agent Bingaman shows Gideon the way to the interrogation room. Gideon interrupts. One of the two men that are in the room asks him “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m supervisory special agent Jason Gideon. I’m an FBI behavioural analyst. It’s time to show this man some respect” He says with a very calm voice and a neutral facial expression.

“You gotta be kidding me” the other one says.

“You have orders from Agent Bingaman to leave the room, so I can speak with this detainee alone” Gideon dismisses them. He waits until the men have left the room, before even attempting to start a conversation with Jind Allah. It works, he stops with his recitation and they start talking.

After a few sentences I notice that he is most likely Egyptian. I tell this to Gideon, who uses this. And along the way Jind Allah gives us more information about himself.

We hear from JJ that there’s going to be another raid, but when Gideon tells Jind Allah, he seems relieved by the news. Gideon leaves the room and immediately calls Hotch. He tells him to get everyone out. After a few minutes Gideon hangs up and Reid asks “They’re okay?”

“We were right about the trap. It was rigged to explode. A SWAT agent was killed”

“Was anthrax involved” I ask.

“No”

“Then that’s not the final target” Reid says.

Gideon goes in again and when Jind Allah tells us something, we are able to figure out his name, with help from Garcia. She tells us that Jamal Abaza has been in the US for quite some time.  
“How could the CIA not know that?” Reid asks

“They’re focused overseas, we’re domestic” I say without thinking, I hope that they assume that I just happen to know that. We continue with brainstorming and come to the conclusion that we’re looking at home grown terrorists. We go the men of the CIA and try to convince them to send all their information to Garcia and JJ.

The next day Gideon goes in for a few minutes before leaving again. He tells us his plan. We get on the phone with Garcia and within 15 minutes everything is ready. Reid and Gideon go to Jamal Abaza. After a few minutes he acts like he gets terrible news, he walks towards the door and he and Reid leave the room for a few seconds. Gideon goes in again, but leaves the door open and on the TV it looks like their attack already took place. Gideon and Abaza start talking, Gideon carefully antagonizes Abaza and Abaza spills the place of the bombing. We get on the phone with Garcia as soon as possible. When we have given her all information we have, we can only wait and hope that the others will be on time.

After 45 minutes we get a call and Hotch tells us that we stopped them. We pack our stuff and make our way to the jet.  
________________________________________  
REID P.O.V.

“When did you know you were gonna have to trick him?” Prentiss asks Gideon.

“First time I talked to him” he answers, not looking up from our chess game.

“You realized you couldn’t break him?” she inquires.

“Well, I realized he was too smart to have had that Nextel phone registered to him accidently. He wanted our presence at Gitmo. That confirmed that he was successful”

“And that was when you started moving up the timeline of his prayers” she says.

“If I had used an actual clock he might have caught on”

“So it was all a chess game” I say.

“We won this round, but you heard him. Jihad never ends” and he and I continue our chess game. I move my piece, he counters “Mate” he says.

“I quit, yield, surrender, capitulate. I’m gonna take a nap” I say, done with losing, and I walk to the couch.

I hear him ask “Prentiss?”

“Sir”

“You play?”

“Yes Sir, I play” she answers and I’m glad to see that Gideon is warming up to her, even if it’s just a little bit. It says something that he asks her to play chess.  
________________________________________  
GARCIA P.O.V.

When I know that my crime fighters are all okay, I decide to upload all the information I got, from the CIA, to my own cloud. I’m pretty certain that it will come in handy in the future. I keep watching the screen. For a second I think that I see a photo of Prentiss on my screen, but I ignore that idea. I know that her file says nothing about her working for the CIA.  
________________________________________  
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must each day surmount a fear."


	3. Profiler, Profiled

"All secrets are deep, all secrets become dark. That's in the nature of secrets." Writer Cory Doctorow  
________________________________________

JJ P.O.V.  
Spence is showing me and Pen one of his tricks. Just as the 'rocket' launches Em walks into the bullpen and it hits her square in the head "Ooh ah, what-"

"I'm so sorry Emily" Spence says while Pen and I are laughing.

"What was that?"

"Don't you recognize a rocket when you see one?" Pen says barely containing her laughter.

"I was merely demonstrating a physics law. I didn't mean to hit-" Spence says nervously before Em interrupts "Oh, show me" and she walks towards us.

"Alright, turn around please"

"Turn around?" Em half-asks half-protests.

"Yeah, he's not gonna show you how it's done" I tell her.

"A magician never reveals his secrets" Spence adds, looking really happy with himself.

"I thought you said it was physics" Em asks, I can see her getting a bit confused.

"Physics magic" Spence says.

"Trust me, it won't do you any good to argue with him" Pen tells Em and we all turn around.

"Alright, alright, turn back and observe" we do as told and track it’s course. As we see that it hits Hotch, we all sober up very quickly.

"Physics magic?"

"Yes, sir?" Spence says uncertainly.

"Reid, we talked about this"

"I'm sorry Sir" Spence apologises.

"You're starting to get some distance on those" Hotch says and he walks to his office.

Emily says "So he does have a sense of humor"

"Sometimes" Spence tells her.

"Where's Morgan?" Em inquires.

"In Chicago. He goes there every year for his mother's birthday" Spence answers her and Pen and I go to our office while Spence and Em start working on the files on their desks.  
________________________________________  
Emily P.O.V.

When Garcia, Reid, JJ and I return from lunch I see detective Dennison, female detective and two officers go into Hotch's office. I had really hoped that I would never have to see him again. While I start working on the files on my desk I keep an eye on Hotch's office door. After about 15 minutes the five of them come out and walk over to my desk. I stand up and say "Dennison"

"You armed?" the female says, from the corner of my eye I see JJ, Gideon and Garcia come down to the bullpen.

"Excuse me" I say confused.

"Are you wearing a gun" Dennison say, with his hatred for me showing in his voice.

"Of course I am. I always wear a gun when I'm at work"

"Hand over your gun to your supervisor" I comply and hand over my gun to Hotch "Turn around" he orders.

"This is some kind of joke right?"

"Don't make us go physical. It'll only make it worse" he pauses "You are under arrest Emily"

"Why? Because you have a grudge against me?" I say, unable to keep the irritation from showing in my voice.

"No, it's for some more important matters. Now turn around before we are forced to become physical" Dennison tells me, I know for sure that he would love it if I resisted arrest. I don't want to give him that pleasure so I comply. As I'm walked pass Dennison I seriously want to kick that smug smile of his face, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a smart move.  
________________________________________  
Emily P.O.V.

(In an interrogation room at the precinct)

"Now we're here, are you finally gonna tell me the charges?" I ask him since they ignored me the whole way to here.

"I'm pretty sure you can figure it out yourself, Emily"

"It's Agent Prentiss"

"You will always stay Emily to me"

"Too bad for you, but I'm still an Agent. I earned that title and you will address me as such" I say.

"Uncuff her" he tells the female detective "You know, if you didn't have diplomatic immunity when you were a teenager, I would have had you in prison a hell lot earlier"

"If I didn't have diplomatic immunity, my whole life would have been different" I pause "You know you are ruining your career right now, don't you? I'm an FBI Agent, who didn't do anything wrong"

"Well since you're a big bad FBI Agent, I assume that you know your rights. Do you want a lawyer?" the female says.

"I don't want a lawyer yet and I since I was arrested in front of my team, I assume that my supervisor knows I'm here"

"Brooks, can you get the files" Dennison asks his partner. Brooks leaves the room and both Dennison and I keep quiet. When Brooks returns she sets a box with my name on it down on the table. "Do you want the others?"

"No, not yet"

"Seriously, you're going to use that old trick? I know that I don't have a record and certainly not a box full. If you want to surprise me, you should use a trick that isn't this common or something that the FBI doesn't teach"

He lays down some pictures on the table "Do you remember them? The first one was found just 5 days after you came to the US. The last one was found a week before you left for Yale. We identified all of them, but not a single shred of evidence at the scenes. In the past years the case had become a cold case, but then I got some leads, asked for some help and started digging into this again. I found out that you were seen with every single one of them"

"This is crazy"

"Tell me about it"

"You think I did this?" I ask completely flabbergasted.

"I do" before he can continue Brooks walks in and whispers something in his ear "You better start thinking about a very good reason why you're not my perpetrator" Dennison tells me before   
leaving the room.  
________________________________________  
JJ P.O.V.

When the detectives and Emily have left the bullpen, Hotch tells us to go to the conference room. Although he still doesn't trust her completely, he will never let one of his team alone is this sort of situations.

"They arrested Prentiss while they told me that they just wanted to have a talk with one of my Agents. That leads me to believe that they don't have any solid evidence. We will see what we can do for Prentiss, no one arrests one of my Agents without having an airtight case. Garcia, you will stay here. The rest of us will go to the precinct and work from there. I have called Morgan to inform him of the situation and he told me he would try to catch a flight back as soon as possible. Cars leave in ten"  
As we arrive at the precinct we see the female detective step out of an interrogation room. "Agent Hotchner"

"Detective Brooks, where is Agent Prentiss?"

"Detective Dennison is in with the suspect now"

"I need to talk to her"

"You can speak with her when my partner is finished talking to her"

"I have your superintendent's personal cell number. I have resisted calling him until now. If I can't speak with Agent Prentiss at this moment, I have no problem with making a call"

"I will get Dennison" Brooks says reluctantly, but not willing to put her ass on the line for this. She walks away.

"It not a good thing that they call her a suspect" Gideon says and we all agree with him.

Within a minute detective Dennison is walking towards us, he looks very happy with himself. "Agent Hotchner"

"Detective Dennison, when you came into my office you told me that you needed to speak with one of my agents. You didn't mention that you would arrest that particular agent"

"I also didn't mention that I think that Emily committed a homicide"

"You think an FBI agent, a BAU profiler, committed a homicide?"

"Actually, I think she committed 5 homicides, at least, from her 15th to 18th"

"You think she is a serial killer?" I ask surprised. I may not have known her for a very long time and I certainly didn't know her when she was a teenager, but I'm certain that she would never   
kill anyone for her own pleasure. I'm not a profiler, but I think that I would have noticed something if that were to be the truth.

"Has she been charged with anything?" Hotch asks the detective.

"I got 72 hours for that" he says. He is far too sure of himself for my liking.

"I'd like to speak with Agent Prentiss now"

"Go ahead" he says and Detective Brooks shows him the way.

"You are Agent Gideon, right?"

"Yes"

"Thank you for letting one of your team look over this case. Before that this case had become a cold case and I had no suspects at all, until you told me to send my case to your team. I received a profile and every single thing points to Emily Prentiss" Gideon takes the file from Dennison and start looking it over.

"One of us profiled her?" Gideon asks the detective.

"Absolutely" he answers and we try to make him understand that a profile is a guide line not something that points to one person and says that he or she is guilty of committing the crime. A profile is a resource to exclude people.

"If one of us confused you, I'm sorry" Gideon says.

"I'm not confused" Dennison laughs.

"Whatever it is in here that made you believe that Agent Prentiss is your suspect has to be coincidence. You can't rely solely on a profile without any supporting evidence"

"You're right and I'm not. Here is the profile you gave me. You profile told me that I was looking for a white female, in her mid to late teens at the time, medium knowledge of the area, most likely a criminal record. How the body was portrayed and the damage to the body said two other things, which let you to believe that she was most likely under influence of something. Seeing that all of my victims were mothers, you told me that she most likely held some grudge against her own mother figure. You didn't know her when she was a kid, but I did and she fits this profile to a T"

"This is all just coincidence" Reid tells the detective.

"Plus Emily doesn't have a criminal record" I say.

"Emily Prentiss may not have a criminal record, but for that she should thank diplomatic immunity. If she didn't have diplomatic immunity back then, she would have had a big criminal   
record. I'm going to my desk and start with writing this case down" and with that Dennison walks away.

Just as Gideon tells us what we're going to do Morgan walks in and asks "What are we going to do?"

"Reid, tell Morgan what is going on and then start going over the profile see if there is anything we missed. JJ, get on the phone with Garcia and you two will need to dig into Prentiss' life. I will watch the interrogation, but first I'm going to talk to Dennison" Gideon says.  
________________________________________  
Emily P.O.V.

After about two minutes after Dennison left Hotch walks into the room. We both keep quiet for a few minutes. "Prentiss"

"Sir"

"Tell me the story, from the point where you think it began"

"I think it started when I was fourteen. We just moved to Italy, it was the fourth time in two years we moved to another country. It was the first time we moved that much in such a sort amount of time and it was the first time I really hated moving. Before we moved to Italy, we were in the US for 6 months. At the time I was relieved that people didn't make fun of me because I looked different or didn't speak the language good enough. So when we moved to Italy, I started acting out. At first it was pretty innocent I began going to parties. After about a month I started drinking and eventually about two months after we arrived in Italy I turned 15" I pause should I really tell him this I ask myself "me and two friends started with drugs. About two eventful months later someone on my mother's security caught us on a Wednesday when we were high. He told my mother, she was just offered an assignment in the US and two days later, on Friday, we were on our way to the US. In the US I continued the lifestyle I started in Italy. My mother gave up on trying to stop me, as long as I kept my grades up and was sober when she needed me, she let me do whatever I wanted to do. Dennison was a new detective when I was 15. We met a few times, most of them I can't remember, and I'm fairly certain he was very happy when I went off to Yale" I tell him.

The door opens and Gideon motions Hotch to come with him.  
________________________________________  
Gideon P.O.V.

"Detective"

"Yes"

"Do you know what Agent Prentiss' criminal record would be if she didn't have diplomatic immunity back then?"

"Absolutely, I wrote it all down, every single thing. I just knew that there would be a day I could finally arrest her"

"Can I have it?"

"Go ahead" he says and he gives me a file.

"Thank you" I say as I start looking it over. I'm surprised, if this is real than there is a whole other side to that woman. I decide to go and get Hotch to look at this. Once Hotch is out of the interrogation room I tell him to look over the file.

"Selling drugs, buying drugs, a lot of fights, resisting arrest"

"There is even more" I tell him.

"This is Prentiss?"

"From her 15th to 18th according to Dennison"

"She didn't tell me she has a record"

"She doesn't, this is the record she would have had if she didn't have diplomatic immunity when she was younger. She most likely thought that it isn't important"

"Since when is the criminal history, recorded or not, of a suspect not important?"

"You just called her a suspect" I state.

"I know" Hotch says and he walks back to the interrogation room.  
________________________________________  
Emily P.O.V.

"Without diplomatic immunity you would have a criminal record" Hotch says as he walks into the room and hands over a file. I look it over and ask "Where did you get this?"

"Selling drugs?"

"We were with a group and we would sell drugs to another. We all had different kind of drugs and that way we could try multiple things"

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"It isn't in my file so I didn't think of it. Besides I haven't used anything since I turned 18"

"You still should have told me. You know how important these sorts of things are to victimology"

"Are you profiling me?" I ask him.

"Yes"

"I don't need the people I work with to know every detail of my life" and I sure as hell don't need them to find out about the CIA or JTF-12 I add to myself  
________________________________________  
JJ P.O.V.

"I feel horrible looking into her life like we would do with unsubs"

"I know me too, but we're only trying to help her. So what do you have?" I get where Pen is coming from, but I also know that we need to do this.

"I don't understand how someone could have gone to so many schools. She sat on 10 different schools from her 4th to 15th. At her 15 she went to school in the US and stayed at that school   
until she left for Yale when she was 18. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Yale. A few months after she graduated from Yale she joined the FBI"

"What happened in the months between Yale and the FBI?" I ask Garcia to be sure.

"I don't know, Blond Gumdrop. Oh, wait"

"What do you have?"

"She was a goalie at the Yale soccer team"

"She played soccer?" I ask surprised.

"Absolutely. From what I read here she was amazing. They won the competition for three following years. Oh no, poor thing"

"What is it?"

"In her last year at Yale she got shot in the back. She was unable to use her legs and couldn't play anymore"

"What happened?"

"It says that she was shot just in front of the door of her apartment. The gunman was never found. I'm hacking her hospital records now. After six months she regained the ability to use her legs and followed intense physical therapy"

"That explains the break. She most likely was working on getting fit again. Did they have a suspect?"

"The case records of the police department are sealed"

"Unseal it" I order Pen.

"Okay, here stands that they did have a suspect. His name is Harris Hightower"

"Do you have anything that connects him with Emily?"

"He was her soccer coach for 6 months when she was fourteen"

"Did they ever have contact again?" I ask her.

"No"

"Thanks Pen, I'm going to tell this to the rest"  
________________________________________  
Hotch P.O.V.

"Guys, Garcia found something" JJ tells us.

"What is it?" I ask.

"In her last year at Yale she was shot in the back. The gunman was never found, but they did have a suspect who also happened to be Emily's soccer coach for 6 months when she was fourteen"

"What is his name?"

"Harris Hightower" JJ says and hands over a paper. I go back to Prentiss.

"Harris Hightower"

"What?" Prentiss looks like a deer caught in the headlights before she can mask her emotions.

"Harris Hightower, he was your soccer coach"

"So?" she asks indifferently. 

"When he wasn't your coach anymore, you started going of the rails and later he was a suspect in a shooting where you were a victim" I see her mask falling and she’s getting angry.

"I'm warning you Hotch. Back off" the tone that she uses doesn't sit right with me. I leave the room to tell the team about her reaction.

Out of nowhere we hear Detective Brooks yell angrily "Hey, did you turn her loose?" Dennison walks to the room. He comes back and asks us in an accusing tone "You let her escape?" Based on their reactions we figure that the only way to find her without her getting shot at is if we find her before they do.

"Hey baby girl, I need the address of Harris Hightower"  
________________________________________  
Emily P.O.V.

When Hotch leaves the room I take my chance to get the hell out of this building. I know where to find Harris and today I'm going to make sure that he will be punished for what he did. When I come into his office he doesn't notice me at first "Harris"

"Emily Prentiss, long time no see. How are you?" I see that he is surprised. He never read any newspapers so I'm pretty sure that he thought he killed me.

"I'm better now I can walk again"

"You couldn't walk?"

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about"

"I don't follow you"

"All these years you got away with it"

"What are you talking about?"

"All these years I kept my mouth shut. No one would believe me anyway. I told no one that you got me pregnant. It weighed down on me. I started drinking and doing drugs, just so I could forget for a few hours what you did to me. You were angry that I didn't return to you when I returned to the states, weren't you? That's why you set me up all those years ago. That's why you killed those women. But it didn't work out the way you planned it, did it? So a few years later you wanted to get rid of me for real, you knew where I was and you took the shot. You thought you killed me, but you didn't know you just paralyzed me. Tell me Harris, did you kill those women?"

"I did"

"And with how many others you had forced sexual contact and intercourse?" I say I feel tears piling up in my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.

"Well, my sweet Emily, to many to count" he says with a smile on his face.

"I will tell you what happens in cases like this. One person steps up, then another and then another and eventually you won't be able to say that they are all lying. They won't be afraid of you anymore and I promise you" I pause "I will be that one person that steps up and I will make sure that you will rot in prison"  
________________________________________  
Morgan P.O.V.

As we get at Hightower's training field we hear Prentiss confronting him. Hotch keeps us from going in, we all know that she needs this in order to move on. When we hear her say "and I will make sure that you will rot in prison" we move in and arrest Hightower.

After Hightower is arrested I see Prentiss standing alone and I take my chance. I tell her "If you ever want to talk about it. It happened to me too" we both keep quiet, but we both know that we have someone that we can talk to and who knows how we feel.


	4. The first important question

JJ P.O.V.

For the ride back we decided that the boys would all be together in one car, while Em and I would share the other. Em hasn’t said a word since we left Hightower’s. I decide to try to start up a conversation with her.

“Em”

“Yeah” she says still looking at the road and I see her grabbing the steering wheel a bit tighter. She obviously doesn’t want to talk, but I decide not to honour her silent request for now.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine” I know she isn’t telling the whole truth.

I decide to probe a bit further “Really?” 

“Really” she answers me, looking at me and silently asking to really drop it for now.  
________________________________________  
Emily P.O.V.

When we’re back at the BAU I decide to take my chances and ask JJ the question I have wanted to ask her ever since I joined the team. I walk towards her office as I stand in front of her office I wait for a couple seconds before I go in “Jay, do you have a little time?"

“Sure” she answers and I close the door, it isn’t anyone else’s business what we’re talking about.

“Jennifer Jareau, would you do me the honour of going on a date with me?” I stare at her nervously. I see her look a bit surprised before she gets a look on her face of which I can’t determine yet what it means.

“You’re asking me on a date?”

“Yes” I say already thinking of what to say when she doesn’t accept.

“Emily Prentiss, I would love to go on a date with you”

“Really?” I have to ask, I can’t quite believe that it is this easy.

JJ smiles and nods as she says “Really”

“Can I pick you up tomorrow at 6.30 PM? Well, if we don’t have a case”

“That’s a date” she answers cheekily.

“See you tomorrow” I say and I too have a smile on my face. I walk back to my desk and I feel my phone vibrates in my pocket.

Looking at the message I see that it’s from Garcia "What did you do to my Blond Gumdrop? She can’t look that happy because of the files on her desk" I smile at Garcia’s message and feeling a bit bold I answer her "That’s between the two of us" I put down my phone and start grabbing my stuff together.

“Okay Prentiss, what has you all happy and smiling?” Morgan asks me.

“That is none of your business, Morgan” I say, trying to shut him up quickly. It feels like all of us have grown closer after today’s events.

“Oh come on Prentiss, you can tell Uncle Morgan everything” he tries.

“Not a chance” I answer him with a smile and I make my way to the elevators.


	5. The Big Game

_Condemned murderer Perry Smith said of his victims, the Clutter family, "I didn't have anything against them, and they never did anything wrong to me, the way other people have all my life. Maybe they're just the ones who have to pay for it."_

**Emily P.O.V.**

When we walk back to my car, after having a great time during our date, JJ her phone rings. I hope that it isn't Hotch calling her, because that would mean that we most likely don't have time to finish our date properly.

"Hey Hotch" JJ answers her cell

"Yeah I'll call Emily. We will be there in 20" JJ says and she hangs up

"Time to go the BAU, Em" she tells me

"Well at least we both have our go-bag" I say and JJ smiles. As we stand beside my car I open the door for her. When we are both seated I start the car and we are on our way to the BAU

"Even though we were interrupted. I hope you had a great time" I tell JJ

"It was great Em. Thank you and I hope that our next date will be uninterrupted"

"So you're in for another one?" I ask happily, I had a great time with a great woman and I would love to repeat it. After I had picked JJ up I took her to my favourite Italian restaurant and luckily enough it was pretty calm there tonight. We talked a lot and although we did talk about work we managed not to talk about the BAU. I think we were in the restaurant for about two and a half hour before we left. For me it was one of the best dates I have ever had.

"Absolutely" JJ says. We continue talking to each other and before we know it we're back at the BAU

When we step out of the car JJ gives me a kiss on my cheek and I can't stop a groovy smile from showing on my face.

"How can the two of you look so awake? I was almost sleeping when I got the call" Garcia says as soon as we walk into the bullpen. She eyes JJ's beautiful ocean blue dress, before eyeing me, in my black pantsuit and white blouse "Why are you both dressed up like that?"

"Well I, for one, had an amazing date with someone" I answer Garcia, surprising both myself and the others with being the first to answer a personal question. I guess it means that I'm starting to feel comfortable in this team.

"And you Blond Gumdrop?" Garcia asks JJ, but before she can come up with an answer Hotch walks to us and tells us to go to the conference room

Once we all sit Gideon comes in while he sits down Hotch starts explaining the case "Our help is needed in Georgia. Lacy and Dennis Kyles were murdered an hour ago in their suburban Atlanta home"

"An hour ago?" Gideon asks

"Police were on scene unusually fast"

"Why?" Morgan interrupts

"One of the unsubs called them and told them that the other was about to murder the victims" Hotch explains

"You're kidding" Morgan says

"From inside the house" Hotch adds "According to the dispatcher, the first male sounded terrified and begged them to get there before the other, who they both identified as Raphael, was about to kill the sinners that lived there"

"The sinners?" JJ asks

"Garcia, the 9-1-1 center will send you a copy of the tape"

"How fast was the police response time?" Reid asks

"Exactly four minutes and twenty-six seconds. During which Raphael managed to do this" Some pictures show up on the screen. I'm surprised by what someone can do in this little amount of time. Hotch continues "Mr. Kyle is a dot com millionaire. His company is one of the largest employers in the community. There's going to be media coverage. JJ you will most likely spent most of your time concentrating on the press. Also, when the police arrived on scene they found this displayed prominently on the bed" other pictures pop up on the screen.

"Revelations chapter six, erse eight" Gideon says

"They're killing sinners. These guys are on a mission" Morgan adds

"Mission-based killers will not stop killing until we stop them" Reid says

"And I looked in behold a pale horse, and his name that sat upon him was death, and hell followed with him" Gideon reads out loud

_On the plane_

"This is a bad one, isn't it?" I ask Morgan

"Unsubs with a cause are never a good thing" he answers

"Pets, I just got the 9-1-1 call" Garcia says and we all turn our attention to the screen

 _9-1-1 what's your emergency?_ The dispatcher asks

 _I'm at 1527 chestnut drive_ The caller answers

_I know where you're calling from. What's your emergency?_

_He thinks they're too greedy. They have too much_

_Too much what?_

_Stuff. Possessions. Hurry!_

_You're calling because these people have too much stuff?_

_No. I'm calling because Raphael_

_That's enough_ A new voice says

 _I don't want to_ The first voice says to the second one

 _He's calling because Raphael is going to kill the sinners who live here_ The second voice says

 _I'm sorry did you say that somebody is killing someone?_ The dispatcher asks

"Well unsub one definitely sounds frightened. Maybe he is doing this against his will" I propose

"I doubt it" Gideon says, I look at him confused "he whispered" he explains

"He could have called out and save them instead of calling 9-1-1" Hotch adds

"Not if he had a gun to his head" Morgan says

"If he had a gun to his head, why would he have dialled 9-1-1? Gideon tells Morgan

"The second unsub said Raphael was going to kill someone is there a third?" JJ asks

"Referring to oneself in the third person isn't uncommon for an unsub. Ted Bundy gave detailed accounts of his murders, but he would always say 'the killer' and thus never actually admitted that he was the one who he killed those people" Reid answers

"Okay, so I'm just gonna go ahead and run the name Raphael through the Georgia criminal database as well as our own"

"Thanks Garcia" Hotch tells her

"Ever so welcome, my liege" Garcia says and she signs off

"We have a killing team on a mission in rural Georgia. We know what that means" Hotch says

"They're not gonna stop until the mission's complete" Morgan sort of answers

"We need to hit the ground running. JJ, we need an inside picture of the victims. Victimology can be critically important in a mission-based spree" Hotch tells JJ

"Already on it" JJ answers

"Prentiss, go where the bodies are. They were able to kill 2 victims in four and a half minutes. We need to know how it was done"

"You got it" I answer him

"I'm gonna set up at the Atlanta field office and go over case files from the state. It's highly unusual that a first kill is this efficient"

"Reid and Morgan come with me to the crime scene" Gideon says

"We land in less than an hour. Everybody try to get some rest" Hotch tells us

_At the coroner’s office_

"How many times were they stabbed?" I ask the coroner

"Stabbed isn't exactly the word I would use. They're all long, deep gashes. Each victim has practically the same wounds. Both throats cut, a vertical gash up one arm from wrist to elbow and a vertical gash down one leg from crotch to upper thigh"

"All across major arteries" I conclude

"It's damned efficient"

"How much knowledge of anatomy would someone need to do this?" I ask getting a little hope that we can add a new part of the profile

"Anyone with a basic knowledge of anatomy knows where these arteries are" he says and the little hope I had flies away

"And do you have any idea which wound was delivered first?"

"Well, there was active blood flow from all wounds, so they were probably delivered at about the same time. But if I had to guess, I would say that the throat was cut first. With any of these wounds the victim would bleed out quickly. Almost like an animal at slaughter" I look at him and I can almost see a light bulb go on above his head "No, it's exactly like an animal at slaughter. When you slaughter an animal, you cut the throat first and then sometimes open up other major arteries to assist in draining the carcass"

"So maybe a hunter?" I ask

"Yeah, or a farmer" he says, but I see a look of disappointment coming on his face "And with those two jobs you're talking about pretty much anyone in rural Georgia" he says. I thank him and go on my way to the precinct

**JJ P.O.V.**

"So, I just talked to the Gentries. They were the last couple to leave the party. According to them, the Kyles didn't have any enemies. They were good to their employees, more generous then they needed to be. Just generally good people" I tell Hotch

"So why them?" Hotch asks

"Well, if the trigger is greed, they do have a nice house" I say as I look at some pictures

"But you can't tell that from the street. These people were chosen and we need to figure out why and how"

Another Agent walks in and tells us "I pulled everything we have unsolved in the last two years. Nothing even close to the MO"

"No murders involving a knife?" Hotch asks

"We have a lot of open cases involving knives, but they're common type crimes, bar fights, robberies" he answers

"This isn't their first contact. One of them has experience" Hotch says and he walks to the evidence board

"Is it okay if I go through some of your case files?" I ask the Agent

"There's nothing there that we haven't looked at" he says

"Help me out, okay? These guys, they're not going to let me do anything else and I flew all the way here, so…" I ask him

"I'll show you the file room" he gives in. I make eye contact with Hotch, it's unbelievable how far you can get with a tiny bit of flirting.

**Emily P.O.V.**

About 15 minutes after Garcia found us new information, all of us, except for Reid, are sitting in front of a computer to take a look at the video.

 _It says that the world is a cesspool of greed. Lust. Disease._ "This sounds like unsub one" I say

 _He says redemption must be sought. We must all repent._ "And the 'he' referred to being Raphael?" Hotch sort of asks

"Or God" Gideon says

"It's not God. It's someone sitting right next to him telling this guy what to say" Morgan says

 _As Lord God spoke Leviticus 26:18_ "That's a new voice" Morgan interrupts

 _And if you will not yet for all this I will punish_ "A third unsub?" I ask as the video continues _ye seven times more for your sins_ he says and we see the Kyles coming into view

"It could just be recorded from a religious program or sermon" Morgan says

"Punish ye seven times" JJ repeats in a questioning voice

"Five more victims" Gideon says with a worried face

"These images were shot from where that computer sat" Morgan notices

"So, if this video comes from that laptop's camera did they bring it with them?" Hotch asks

"As far as I can tell, this laptop belonged to the Kyles. Garcia can do a better analysis, but it does have their personal information on it" Reid says, he has been working on the laptop while we watched the video

"One comes into the room and immediately goes after Mr. Kyle. Did the other unsub turn on the camera?" Hotch says

"We might be asking the wrong questions. This video, it's a message and it's important. They want the world to see this and need it, but they didn't bring a camera with them" Gideon says

Out of nowhere Reid whispers "Agent Franks, does this building have wireless internet?"

"Yeah, why?" he answers not quite whispering, but also not speaking on normal volume

"The camera is on, right now" Reid whispers "The laptop connected itself to the internet and it's streaming a video feed somewhere"

"Can we trace this stream?" Hotch asks Reid

"If we can keep it open, Garcia might be" he's interrupted be the computer that starts bleeping. We all walk over to the laptop and text starts to appear on the screen it says 'THE ARMIES OF SATAN SHALL NOT PREVAIL'

After we got off the phone with Garcia we continue with building the profile, but we can't come up with enough to build a complete profile.

**JJ P.O.V.**

"So Franks is right, none of the open cases fit our MO" I tell Hotch and Reid

"I sense that there's a but coming" Hotch answers me

"Yes, I looked at it in a different way. I looked for unsolved home invasions. Three months ago there was a prowler called in from directly outside of the Kyles' house"

"A prowler?" Reid asks

"The witness was walking his dog in a nearby park. When he walked to his car he saw a man in dark clothing go over the back wall and start walking to the house. He called the police, but by the time they got there the prowler was gone"

"Only one man?" Hotch asks

"Apparently"

"Did the witness give a description?"

"The file says nothing about that"

"Is there a name and address of the witness?"

"Tobias Hankel, he lives about an hour from here"

"It's a long shot, but he might be able to help. Can you and Reid go to Mr. Hankel and see if he remembers something?" Hotch asks

"On it" Reid says and we walk to the SUV

**Emily P.O.V.**

We get the news that there's been a new murder. After the detective gave us some information, Morgan and I go upstairs where the handy man lies on the ground.

"Don't look now, but we're on candid camera" Morgan tells me. We stay in the room for a few more minutes, before we go downstairs. When we walk down the stairs we call Garcia and she is going to see if she can trace it

"There's a laptop set op on the dresser upstairs" Morgan says

"It has a pretty good view of the room" I add

"Garcia is trying to trace the feed back to its destination" Morgan continues

Hotch, Morgan and I walk outside and we start to discuss what happened. After a few minutes Gideon joins us with new information.

When we get back to the station Garcia is already on the phone and she tells us that the second video is even more popular than the first. She is downloading it right now so we can take a look at it.

On the video we see how Mrs. Douglas is attacked and teared to pieces by dogs. Not even Hotch can stop himself from reacting to it. Hotch tells me to turn it off, but the detective stops me.

"You haven't seen enough?" Morgan asks him accusingly

"I have, but those dogs. Those three dogs attacked someone a couple months ago. I would have had them impounded, but the victim knew the owner. It's his neighbour and he didn't want to press charges" he tells us

"You sure?" Gideon asks him

"As God is my witness. I knew those dogs were sick. I called the animal control, but I don't know if they ever followed up on it"

"Do you have the owner's name?" Hotch asks

"Hankel, Tobias Hankel"

**JJ P.O.V.**

When Reid and I stand in front of the door we knock on the door. After a few minutes the door is opened.

"Hello, Mr. Hankel?" I ask him

"Yeah" he answers

"FBI, I'm Agent Jareau and this is Agent Reid" I introduce us

"FBI?" he asks

"Can we come in?" Reid asks

"Um, I'm sorry I don't let anyone in the house" he answers

"Actually, I, uh, really have to, um, go?" Reid says doing as if he has to go to the toilet and surprising me

"You do?" I ask him

"For like 30 minutes"

"Why didn't you say something in the car?"

"Do you mind?" Reid asks Hankel

"I'm sorry, my father doesn't like it" he answers after hesitating for a few seconds

"Your father? You're like 30" Reid says

"At what age can one start disrespecting the wishes of their parents?" Hankel answers

"You witnessed something a few months ago, that might be very helpful to us" I tell Hankel knowing that he isn't going to let us in, but we still have questions to ask

"I did?" he asks surprised

"You saw someone go over a wall, go into a yard and when you saw that you called the police"

"Me?" he doesn't seem to know what we're talking about

"You didn't?" I ask him

"Sorry"

"Is there another Tobias Hankel living here?" I ask

"It's just me and my father Charles"

"There is a report that lists you as calling 9-1-1. You were walking a dog" I try

"No, that's wrong. I don't have a dog"

"Okay, well, sorry to bother you Sir" I say

"Are you sure I can't just quickly use the-" Reid asks

"Sorry" he interrupts "Have a goodnight" he says before closing the door

It doesn't sit right with me and Reid. We discuss it a bit and out of nowhere Reid walks around the corner of the house. After a few seconds he calls me "JJ, he's the unsub" I walk around the corner and I see Reid speed walking to the barn, I follow him to the barn "He's in here"

"You sure?" I ask him

"Have you ever seen me pull my gun out when I wasn't? Call Hotch"

"We're in the middle of nowhere Reid. We have no cell service"

"Oh great, of course we have no service"

"What do we do?"

"I don't know, he's definitely in here. You cover the front I'm going to go around back. Hotch knows we're here he'll come looking for us. We'll just wait him out" Reid says

"Reid, are you sure we should" and he is gone "split up" I say that last part to myself

"JJ" I hear him calling "JJ, he's around back"

"What" I say although I know he can't hear me. Out of nowhere the door of the barn opens. I pull my gun "Reid? Reid?" I look around, but I can't see much in the darkness. I grab my flashlight and I look around again. I whisper "Reid?" but I get no answer. I continue to look around, I take a few steps forward and I hear that I put my foot into a puddle of something. I look down and I see that its blood, I pull back my foot and put it down somewhere else. I trace the blood pattern and my eyes land on a mattress with someone on it, I guess it's a woman, but I can't be sure. She has been torn to pieces. I hear a growl and I immediately point my gun to the source, right in front of me are standing three dogs, they all have blood over their bodies. I guess that they were to ones who killed her. One launches itself at me and I can't stop myself from letting out a scream. Before I can shot him he manages to grab my arm. I'm forced to kill all three of them.

When I turn around Tobias Hankel is standing behind me "Mr. Hankel, where's Agent Reid?" I ask him as calmly as I can at the moment

"I'm going to take him to a better place" Hankel answers. I see him holding Reid's gun, but before I can say anything else I'm greeted with a fist to my face. While I'm momentarily stunned and laying on the ground Hankel leaves the barn.

 


	6. Revelations

_"There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." Ecclesiastes 7:20_

**JJ P.O.V.**

Once the world has stopped spinning in front of me, I stand up. The barn door opens again and Hankel walks in with his gun pointed at me. Just as he opens his mouth to say something he is cut off by the sound of sirens. When I’m momentarily distracted he slaps a piece of duct tape across my mouth before throwing me in the corner.

I hear Hotch telling the team to split up. The barn door opens and I see Emily coming in. She sees me and walks towards me. I try to warn her, but before I can make a sound she is contracting on the ground with her gun out of reach. Hankel walks towards her while laughing and I realize that this is not the shy man who opened the front door. I guess that we’re dealing with an Unsub who has D.I.D. when I have come to that realisation I look over to Emily and Hankel again. “Now I have three FBI Agents” I hear him say and both Emily and I realize that he also has Reid.

I see that Emily has stopped shaking and is trying to stand up. I try to stand up as well, but as soon as I move my head black spots are moving into my sight. I stop trying to get up, knowing that it would only distract Emily if I were to faint, I see that Emily is on her knees now. When she tries to get to her gun Hankel tasers her again, but instead of contracting she just lies still. I start to get really worried before I see her chest rising and falling. Hankel must have used a high voltage, I think, it took some time before Emily stopped contracting after the first dosage and the second rendered her unconscious.

I’m also surprised that she didn’t make a sound when he stroke her, most of the times people let out an involuntarily scream when hit with a taser. While I was concentrating on Emily I failed to notice Hankel walking towards me, he pulls me up by my hair and starts dragging me to his car. Somehow he managed to do it without anyone seeing us. He drags me past the car and I see Spence lying on the backseat, without giving me the chance to get a second look at him Hankel opens the trunk and pushes me in. Hankel shuts the trunk and I feel that the car starts driving.

**Morgan P.O.V.**

The only one we haven’t heard from is Prentiss so Hotch, Gideon and I go to the barn. When we enter the barn I see Prentiss lying on the ground with her eyes closed and an occasional contraction going through her body. Hotch calls an ambulance while I kneel down beside her. I see that she has two sets of taser marks on her neck and when I feel for her pulse I notice that it’s very irregular. After a few seconds I see her trying to open her eyes “C’mon Prentiss, open those eyes” I try to coax her. It works and after a few more seconds she’s able to keep eye contact. “Prentiss, where are JJ and Reid?” I ask her

“Hankel has them” she answers me while working on regaining her breath. The paramedics walk in and immediately try to hook her up to a heart monitor when I tell them she has been tasered.

“I’m fine-” Prentiss tries to argue, but she is interrupted by Hotch

“Agent Prentiss, you have been tasered twice. You can choose, either you let the paramedics work on you or I will get you of this case” Hotch threatens and immediately she stops protesting and stops trying to get up. Hotch tells me to keep an eye on her while he and Gideon will go back to the house. When Hotch and Gideon are gone one of the paramedics opens Prentiss’ blouse in order to listen to her heart. I can’t help but being awestruck with the muscles she has, I can’t help it I’m still a man, I’m also surprised by the amount of scars she has. I have never seen that much scars on an Agent before, let alone one who only had desk jobs before joining the BAU. Before my mind goes into the gutter without me wanting it to, my thoughts are interrupted by the paramedics “Alright Agent Prentiss, your heart beat is evening-out, but I would still like to keep you in the hospital for a night to keep an eye on it”

Before Prentiss even gives an answer I already know what she’s going to say.

“Not a chance in hell” she responds while buttoning up her blouse and standing up. She is surprisingly steady for someone who was unconscious just ten minutes ago.

“Agent Prentiss-” the paramedic starts again before Prentiss interrupts him and I feel sorry for him, especially when I see that Prentiss is not backing down. I haven’t known her for more than four months, but her reaction doesn’t surprise me at all.

“You said that **you** would like it if **I** would go with you, but since **I** don’t like it I’m not going” she states and Hotch and Gideon are walking towards us.

“What is the problem?” Hotch asks the paramedics while giving Prentiss a glare, who responds with a shrug

“I think it would be a good idea if your Agent would go to the hospital so that they can keep an eye on her overnight, but she refuses to go”

“Prentiss?” Hotch asks her wanting her to explain herself

“Sir, I’m fine. My heartbeat is evening-out, I don’t feel dizzy or sick. Yes, my whole body hurts, but it’s nothing that some Tylenol can’t solve. I want to be out there in the field looking for JJ and Reid, I don’t want to be sitting on my ass in some hospital where I’m unable to help” She tells him

“Do you promise to tell me when you start feeling worse?” Hotch asks her

“Yes, Sir. I promise” She answers quickly with a hint of a smile showing on her face

“Alright” he tells her before turning to the paramedics “Thank you for your help, but my Agent won’t accompany you to the hospital” the paramedics and Hotch shake hands and they walk away.

“Okay Prentiss, what happened?” Hotch asks

“I walked into the barn and immediately I saw JJ. She had duct tape across her mouth and some blood on her face. After doing a quick sweep I walked towards her and before I know it I was on the ground trying to control my body. Hankel walked towards me while laughing and he told me “Now I have three FBI Agents” that’s when I knew that he had Reid too. When my body stopped shaking I tried to grab my gun, but before I could touch it he tasered me again and after that it’s black until I saw you guys” She tells us. After a few moments she adds “I think we should consider him having D.I.D.”

“Why?” I ask her

“Well, when he laughed, I caught JJ’s eyes. She looked surprised like, I don’t know, like she was surprised by how he acted” she explains

“If that is right then should D.I.D. definitely be something we should consider. It would certainly explain some holes we haven’t been able to fill until now” Gideon says

“Garcia is on her way right now” Hotch says

“Why?” Prentiss and I ask at the same time

“His computers are an extension of his brain” Gideon explains

“We will set up at his house. The house can give us the answers we need” Hotch says and we walk back to the house.

**Emily P.O.V.**

It’s hard to believe that there has already an hour gone by. Hotch is picking up Garcia from the airport. When they return Garcia starts working on the computers. At some moment Morgan corners me.

“Emily, how come that none of this gets to you? I mean I know about your past and I’m sure you have an indication about mine, but you have never flinched. I flinch sometimes, so do Hotch, Gideon, Reid, JJ and especially Garcia.” Morgan asks me

“He’s right, you never even blinked” Hotch says, scaring me a bit since I didn’t hear him walking towards us.

I’m sure that if they knew about my past with the CIA and Interpol they would understand, but since I can’t tell them that I settle for another answer “I guess, maybe I compartmentalize better than most people” I see that they don’t really believe me, but I’m able to escape further questions when Gideon calls for our attention. He has found some sort of storm shelter. Morgan and Hotch go down and they find the body of Tobias Hankel’s father. The next day Morgan and I talk to someone who knows Tobias from when he was younger and we learn some information that will be very helpful.

We don’t make very much progress until Hankel sends us a live stream of Reid. JJ is nowhere to be seen, I can only hope that she is still alive. I don’t know what I would do if she isn’t.

A couple hours later we see Reid die only to be resuscitated by Hankel, much to our relief.

**JJ P.O.V.**

I’m in a dark room, there is one window but the curtain is closed. I hear both Reid and Hankel talking. I’m thankful that I can at least still hear him. It has been quiet from the room beside me for quite some time and I start to get worried about Reid. All out of sudden the door is opened and lights spring on, I see Hankel enter the room with a camera in his hand.

“Choose one to die” he tells me

“What?” I ask him not fully understanding what he wants from me

“Your team members, choose one to die” he repeats

“Kill me” I answer him

“Your team has six other members, tell me who dies?” When he says the number six I let out a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding. Six members means that Reid is still alive

“No” I tell him, I won’t choose

“Choose and prove you do God’s will” he says as he pulls out his revolver with one bullet in the chamber and spins it

“No” I say again and he pulls the trigger, but there’s no bullet coming out

“Choose”

“I won’t do it” and he pulls the trigger again, but again there’s no bullet

“Live is a choice”

“No” again he pulls the trigger and again there’s no bullet

“Choose” he says and I know that the next time he pulls the trigger there will be a bullet. I look around and I see a gravestone, it remembers me of something Em and I talked about.

“I choose Emily Prentiss, the way she thinks about death is just creepy and I’m pretty sure she has murdered someone and that is a sin. She should be punished” I tell him. I know that the team is watching and I’m certain that Emily will know what I truly mean.

**Emily P.O.V.**

I’m both glad and concerned when JJ appears on the screen. Glad cause this means that she’s still alive and concerned because we don’t know what he will do to her. I almost want to kill her when she refuses to choose someone from us, but the second she says my name and her explanation I know exactly what she means.

“I know where we can find them. JJ and I talked about something that she referred to. They’re at a cemetery” I tell them

“Garcia, look for a cemetery in our search area” Gideon says while we run to the cars

“I have one, I sent it to your GPS” she yells after us and we’re on our way

An antagonizing fifteen minutes later we’re on location. We split up, Morgan and I take the back while Hotch and Gideon take the front. When we enter we’re standing in the room where JJ is, but Hankel isn’t here. We hear Hotch and Gideon talking to Hankel, trying to talk him down, Morgan joins them while I free JJ.

“I knew that you would understand it, Em” she says and as soon as she is free she hugs me and gives me a little kiss on the lips. I feel my heart skipping a beat again, but this time it isn’t from the shocks it is from getting a kiss from the most beautiful women on earth.

“How are you, Jen?” I ask her

“I have a small headache, but for the rest I’m okay. How are you?” she asks concerned

“I’m fine” I tell her before receiving a glare “I’m a little sore, what is to be expected, but for the rest I’m fine”

We hear a gun shot and I immediately redraw my gun, Morgan comes into the room to tell us that Hankel is dead. We walk toward the room where Reid was held, JJ and Reid hug each other before Reid asks to have a moment alone. We leave the room. With the men are walking in front of us, we both can’t resist and put an arm around each other.

When we’re back I take JJ to her house. I make sure she eats something, we watch some TV before she goes to bed. I stay the night telling her that her couch and I will be best friends until she kicks me out. She smiles and tells me to at least join her in bed and that it’s almost impossible to sleep on her couch. I want to argue with her, but the look she gives me tells me that she doesn’t want to be alone, so I join her and pretty soon we’re asleep. We both lay on our left side she has back towards me and I have thrown my right arm over her to keep her close and like that we fall asleep. Both grounded by each other’s presence.

 


	7. Distress

_"Our life is made by the death of others." Leonardo da Vinci_

**JJ P.O.V.**

Today Reid was late for the first time since I have known him, he still refuses to tell me what happened to him. At first he seemed to be okay, but two days ago his behaviour completely changed. The weird thing is that it only changed towards Emily. I just hope that he will let us help in time. I feel guilty that I wasn’t able to protect him, I have been trying to talk to him these past days, but he makes sure that he is always working on something.

**Emily P.O.V.**

 

I’m worried about Reid. I know what drugs do to you and I see all the signs. He’s lashing out and understandably only towards me. I’m the new member, in these situations it’s easier to lash out to people you don’t know really well. That’s also the reason that I lashed out the most to my mother back then. Especially after the abortion, I used everything I could get and the first time I was sober again, for longer than 15 minutes, was a month after it happened. I continued using, but not as intense. A week after my birthday I was ready to change my lifestyle, I went cold turkey for 15 day, it was horrible, and since the day I started that I have never touched drugs. Since I turned 18 I can count on two hands the amount of times I have been drunk and I only smoked when necessary if I was undercover.

 

I notice that time has drifted by while I was daydreaming, I’m almost done I guess it’ll take five minutes to finish up. When I’m done, I decide to ask JJ for Reid’s address and pay him a visit. If he doesn’t accept any help yet, I’ll leave him alone for two weeks before trying again. I don’t care how many times he sends me away, I won’t give up on him.

**Reid P.O.V.**

I know that after the last two days the team is suspicious of my behaviour. I don’t know why is lash out at Prentiss, ever since she started on the team she has been nothing but nice to me and the others. I want to stop with using, but I can’t. Dilaudid gives me some sense of normality, I know it sounds weird, but that is how it is. The moment I stop with it everything that happens overwhelms me, I feel guilty towards JJ and I just can’t deal with it yet. I guess I should talk to her, she has tried to catch me, but it’s so much easier to avoid it and that way it isn’t as easy for them to figure out about my drug use. If one of the team would find out, my money would be on Prentiss. I think it’s easier for her to spot since she herself and her friends used when she was younger.

 

I hear someone knocking on my front door “Reid, are you home” after hearing the voice I know that it’s Prentiss and I can’t think of any other reason for her to be here than that she knows.

 

I open the door “Hey Prentiss”

“Hey Reid, can I come in?”

 

“Well, actually I’m very busy” I say, I know that this will raise her suspicion, but it’s still laying on the table. If she comes in, she’ll know it immediately.

 

“Alright, I’m sorry I disturbed you”

 

“No problem” I say starting to close the door

 

“Reid” she says in such a tone that makes me stop my movements

 

“Yeah?” I reply

 

“Just know that I’m always here to talk. I also think it would be good for both you and JJ if you talked to each other. Goodnight Reid, see you tomorrow” she says. Those three sentences told me more than I have ever heard before. I know that she knows, that the team has noticed me avoiding JJ, that I really should talk to JJ and that she trusts me enough to know that I’ll be at work tomorrow. I also know that she’ll keep an extra eye on me and frankly enough that idea doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.

 

When I have closed the door, I go straight to bed and for the first time since Hankel I don’t use before going to bed.

_"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." Thomas Paine_

 


	8. Jones

_Robert Kennedy once said, "Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom. Not a guide by which to live."_

**Emily P.O.V.**

“Hey Sean”

_“Hey Emily, are you sitting down?”_

“Yes, I’ve pulled over”

_“Alright, how are you?”_

“C’mon Sean, don’t start playing games. What’s going on?”

_“Why do you assume that something is going on?”_

“You’re answering a question with a question and you never ask how I am unless you have something important to share, so I took an educated guess”

_“Always the profiler. You know, this is why you we’re such a good spy. You’re still the best spy we’ve had in ages. If you ever want to come back, just give me a call. You’ll be back in before you can even blink.”_

“If I ever want to come back, you’ll be the first to know. But now just tell me what’s going on”

_“Dean Jones is out”_

“How?”

_“Dirty cops, he got his hands on keys for all the locks and the security cameras where turned off. You’re going to have to watch your back. Are you close to any members of your team?”_

“Yes, I’ve started to form some friendships”

_“You’ll need to keep your distance. There’s a small chance that he knows your true identity and you know that he’ll go after the people you care about”_

“Yeah, I know that’s what they all do. What’s being done to catch him again?”

_“INTERPOL has a team working on the case. We have been ordered to stay away from it. They have identified the dirty cops and they’re working on getting them to talk, but until we know if he knows your true identities you can’t take any risks. You, Jeremy and Tsia all had contact with him and there has already been a suspicious man spotted around their house”_

“Are they alright?” I ask him

_“Yes they’re fine, just be careful and I’ll contact you again when he’s caught”_

“Alright, thanks for letting me know Sean”

_“No problem”_

When we have hung up I think about what this means. If he knows my true identity I’ll have to make sure that it seems like I don’t have any friends and the most horrible thing is that I’ll have to break up with JJ. I can’t risk her getting hurt because of my past. Just when it seemed like everything was falling into place, this happens. I really don’t want to break up with Jay, in the short time I have known her I have let her in more than I have ever let someone else. I know that it will hurt her and that she’ll most likely hate me, but I’d rather see her alive and mad at me than not see her at all because she’s dead. I restart my car and continue my way to Jay. I’m still thinking about how to tell her and how to do it without letting her see that I don’t want to breakup.

**JJ P.O.V.**

It’s really amazing how sweet Emily has been these past few days. When I first met her sweet wasn’t a word I would use to describe her, but once you break through the walls you see that sweet is exactly the word to describe her. She helped me with the nightmares and she makes me feel safe. The nightmares are fading, but I’m fairly certain I’ll never feel very comfortable around dogs again.

When she asked me for Spence his address, I suspected that she would visit him and my suspicions were confirmed when she told me that she would come over later than normal today.

Even though we haven’t been together for long, I don’t think I have ever felt this much for a person. I’m thankful for her help with the whole Hankel situation and aftermath. I’m especially glad that she didn’t let me go home alone when we came back.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts when the doorbell rings; I really hope that it’s Em.

“Hey Em” I say and I intend to give her a peck on the lips, but she turns away her head and it ends on her cheek instead.

“Hey JJ” she answers stiffly and we walk to my living room “JJ, I have to tell you something” she says in a somewhat distant voice.

“What is it?” I ask her hoping that she’ll explain why she’s acting like this. I sit down on my couch and gesture her to join me, she ignores my offer and keeps standing.

“I’m really sorry JJ, but I’m breaking up with you” she tells me, my heart shatters into pieces.

“Em, you’re kidding right?” I ask her, hoping she’s making some stupid joke. When I see her eyes I already know she’s not kidding, her eyes are void of emotion not a single trace of the deep warmth I normally see.

“No, I’m not kidding” she turns around and starts walking towards the door

“But why?” I ask her while I follow her towards the door, she stops and for a second I think that she’s going to turn around and give me an explanation, but she starts walking again.

“I’m really sorry, Jennifer” I hear her say softly before she closes the door of my house after her. I would have expected her to say a lot of things, but this wasn’t something I thought about. I walk over to my couch on the automatic pilot; I’m trying to get my head around what just happened. I have a little breakdown. I’m starting to get myself together when my phone rings, I wipe away the last few tears and I make sure that my voice is steady. There’s a detective calling for our help, I call Hotch and after I talked to him he is going to call Prentiss, Gideon and Morgan, while I call Pen and Spence.

After I have made sure that there are no traces of my breakdown I walk to my car, not knowing that the following year will change a lot of things.

_After the case_

**Emily P.O.V.**

The whole case JJ, understandably, ignored me when she could and I know that the detective was hitting on her. I guess that that is something I’ll have to get used to, I made the decision to break up with her and now it’s my turn to accept whoever she wants to date.

I just hope that they catch Dean Jones soon and that I can give Jay the explanation she deserves. She didn’t deserve me walking out on her and I know that she had cried before we caught the case. I would do everything I can to make her happy, but this time I can’t help her. I had to choose between two evils, I choose for the option that will keep everyone safe and it doesn’t matter if that isn’t the choice my heart wanted to make, this time it was better to let my brain make the decision.

 


	9. Honor Among Thieves

_An old Russian proverb reminds us, "There can be no good without evil."_

**Emily P.O.V.**

 

It has already been two weeks since I broke it off with JJ and time has never gone so slow. I hadn’t expected that I would miss her this much, but when I saw Jones standing in front of my house I knew I had made the right choice.

 

When I saw Jones I went to grab my gun from my safe, but by the time I had returned he was gone. I called Sean and he said he would get the information to the team that is working on recapturing Jones. Despite my protests he said he would also make sure that the security cameras in the building are up to date.

 

Right now I’m looking for my pen which I forgot in the conference room. I look up and see Mother talking to Anderson. I walk out of the conference room and say “Mother?”

 

We just stare at each other a few seconds before I walk towards her.

 

“I need to speak to you and one of your superiors”

 

“I’ll see if Agent Hotchner has time” I tell her. I walk towards Hotch’s office and I know that Mother and her associates are following me.

 

“Hotch do you have some time?”

 

“Yes, do you need something?”

 

“My mother wants to talk to you” I tell him and he immediately stands up and walks over to the door. Even after all these years I’m still surprised of how most people act after hearing the Prentiss name.

 

“Ambassador Prentiss, how are you?” Hotch asks her

 

“I’m fine, thank you. I’m sorry for being this abrupt, but we need your help”

 

“What can we do?”

 

“Just listen to their story and see if you and your team are able to help” Mother answers and Hotch gestures them to sit down.

 

“I found my father’s car last night when I took out the garbage. The door was open and his bag on the ground, but he was gone” Natalya says

 

“Gone?” I ask

 

“He’s been kidnapped” my Mother answers

 

“Are you sure?” Hotch asks

 

“Yes” Natalya answers

 

“Have you been to the police?” Hotch asks

 

“They came directly to me. As I think you can understand, Agent, they don’t easily trust the authorities” Mother answers

 

“There are protocols, Ambassador Prentiss, the local police. There’s an FBI office in Baltimore” Hotch tells her

 

“Yes, but you do handle kidnapping cases, don’t you? You, the BAU, it is your mandate” she retaliates

 

“Yes, when necessary” Hotch answers

 

“Mrs. Chernus’ brother, Natalya’s uncle, worked for me at the embassy in Ukraine” Mother says

 

“Be that as it may. There are channels these cases must go through and if our particular expertise is required-” Hotch starts, but he is interrupted by Mrs Chernus who starts to speak in Russian

 

“Please, we don’t have time” Natalya says

 

“It’s just not something that’s up to us” I try to explain, but as soon as I have stopped speaking Mrs. Chernus speaks again. This time she talks about how officials are the same everywhere. Her daughter tries to calm her, but fails.

 

“Please, it’s already 8.15 in the morning” Natalya says, both Hotch and I are intrigued by this sentence. Before one of us can ask what she means, Mother explains

 

“The kidnappers left a note, demanding a $100.000 be wired to a bank account in Moscow by noon today. That’s less than four hours” she tells us

 

“They say if we don’t, they’ll send another piece every six hours after” Natalya says

 

“Another piece?” Hotch asks, she opens something. I walk over to take a better look and I see a finger, presumably a ring finger seeing the wedding ring.

 

“That’s my father’s wedding ring” she explains “Please help him” she finishes

 

“Tell the rest of the team, conference room in three” Hotch tells me

 

Hotch has called someone to process the finger, but when the Agent tries to put the finger in a cool box Mrs. Chernus becomes distraught. While Mother and I try to calm her down, Natalya asks if they can keep the finger.

 

Hotch tells the Agent who came for the finger that it’s fine and that she can leave the finger here.

 

Reid tries to analyse the letter, but the Unsub(s) didn’t use any other words than strictly necessary. So it doesn’t give us anything for the profile.

 

“It doesn’t even say not to call the police” JJ notices

 

“Russian expats don’t have the greatest experience with their home government. They tend not to trust officials” I explain as my eyes are once again drawn to Jay

 

“Well there’s another reason they aren’t worried. According to the note, they aren’t planning on contacting them again” Gideon says

 

“It’s completely self-contained. They expect their instructions to be followed” Hotch says

 

“We don’t have $100.000” Natalya says

 

“They seem to think you that you do” Morgan says and Natalya looks surprised

 

“Garcia, can you get any information on the account?” Hotch asks

 

“Already checking. The account number does seem to correspond with that bank” she answers

 

“Can you get the account holder’s name?” Hotch asks

 

“I have no idea how Russian banks store their data, how their servers are constructed. We’d have to call the bank directly” Garcia says dejected

 

“No way. There’s no way a Russian bank is going to give information on personal accounts” I say

 

“Well, I could try to go through the embassy in Moscow” Mother says

 

“And say what? The FBI is looking for information on Russian citizens bank accounts. I mean if we were lucky we would spend the next six years drowning in red tape” I say having a very good idea of how that will work out

 

“I can make some calls. I may still have some friends in the Eastern countries” Mother tells the others, ignoring me

 

“That would be a great help, Ambassador” Hotch says

 

“If you’ll excuse me” Mother says and she leaves

 

“Morgan, somebody needs to go to the Chernus house in Baltimore, in case they are contacted again”

 

“You got it, Hotch”

 

“I want to be there” Natalya says, but Hotch basically tells her to stay put

 

Morgan, Reid and Gideon go to Baltimore while the rest of us stay here. JJ and Garcia are working on the bank account and Natalya is acting as their translator. I’m staying with Mrs. Chernus and Hotch is contacting multiple people in the hope they can help.

 

“Your Mother has got feelers out. She’s confident she can get results” Hotch tells me after hanging up

 

“Well, if anybody can, it’s Ambassador Prentiss” I say

 

“How is she doing?” Hotch asks referring to Mrs. Chernus

 

“How would you be?” I ask him

 

“Right”

 

“Agent Cramer is meeting Gideon, Morgan and Reid at the Chernus house. This is the translator, I have already briefed her” JJ interrupts

 

“Will you introduce her to Mrs. Chernus?” Hotch asks JJ and JJ walks the translator over to Mrs. Chernus

 

“Thank god” I say “I’m really not good at Russian” I explain at seeing his confused expression. Hotch lets out a little smile and starts walking to his office “Sir?” I ask

 

“Yes”

 

“If it would be alright, I would like to go and help my Mother”

 

“Alright, keep me up to date” he tells me

 

_At the Prentiss residence_

 

“How are you enjoying your assignment to the BAU?” Mother asks me

 

“Well, enjoying is an odd description” I answer

 

“Is it?” Mother asks while continuing with working on her laptop

 

“Well, we deal with some pretty horrible things”

 

“I thought that’s where you wanted to be”

 

“It is, definitely” I say immediately

 

“Then you do enjoy it”

 

“All I’m saying is that ‘enjoy’ feels wrong”

 

“Alright, what would you call it?”

 

“Who do we have to end up in an interrogation?” I say feeling a little frustrated with both her abruptness and that she doesn’t even look at me while we’re talking.

 

Her assistant informs us that Gregor Popovich is calling her back.

 

“Gregor?”

 

_“Yes”_

 

“My daughter, Em, is in the room with me”

 

_“Ah, little Emily”_

 

“You have some good news for me, I hope”

 

_“I’m afraid not, no-one in the Russian government is going to officially give you permission to look into the account holder’s information in this bank”_

 

“Do they understand this is an emergency?”

 

_“They were not impressed”_

 

“Thank you for trying, Gregor”

 

_“I wish I could have done more. Goodbye Emily”_

 

“Goodbye Sir” I answer after being a little startled and Mother hangs up

 

“I really thought he could do this” Mother says in a tone that I haven’t heard often before and it makes me a little uncomfortable

 

“Um, I should head back to the office and let them know” I say

 

“Yeah, please tell Agent Hotchner I’m sorry”

 

I’m very surprised by that last sentence, but after a few seconds I answer “Right” and I walk out of the room

 

_Back at the office_

 

“Anything?” Hotch asks as soon as I have knocked

 

“Her contacts fell through” I answer

 

“Really?” Hotch says surprised

 

“Apparently, she’s not infallible”

 

“Is there something else?” Hotch asks me after my eyes were drawn to JJ and I sort of stared at her

 

“No” I say quickly before adding “I just wish there was something more we could be doing for this family”

 

“We still have over an hour” Hotch says and I don’t think he saw through my façade

 

“Yeah” I say before leaving his office

 

After half an hour Mother walks into the bullpen, just at the moment that Hotch has told Mrs. Chernus and Natalya that they have recovered an ear of Mr. Chernus.

 

“Has something happened?” she asks me

 

“Yes, the kidnappers didn’t wait until noon. They cut off Mr. Chernus’ ear and sent it to their home address” I tell her

 

“Oh god” she says just loud enough for me to hear “Is he-” she starts to ask, but I interrupt her knowing what she’s going to ask

 

“No, we don’t think so, but they have given us a new deadline and increased the ransom demand. You still think I enjoy all of this?”

 

“Are they still instructed to wire the money to the same bank in Moscow?” Mother asks surprising me

 

“Yes, I think so”

 

“Something your computer expert said this morning about if she understood how Russian banks hold their data she could get information about the account holders”

 

“Right”

 

“After you left I called Gregor back, he made some calls and gave me this. He said she would understand it” Mother says and she hands over an envelope.

 

While I’m on my way to Garcia I hear JJ tell someone that the finger isn’t in the box anymore. As I walk by a take a glance into the conference room and the look on Natalya’s face doesn’t sit right with me.

 

I hand to papers Mother gave to me over to Garcia and she immediately knows what to do with it. As she starts typing on her computer she tells me “its breadcrumbs”

 

“I’m sorry?” I ask not understanding what she means

 

“It’s a set of address string and passwords, a path. See? I’m jumping from site to site, country to country and each time I got a cursor I put in the next address and password. It’s equivalent to breadcrumbs of Hansel and Gretel”

 

“What is that?” I ask when the screen fills with other words than before

 

“Oh, it’s downloading the structure of Nadka’s bank servers to me”

 

“Are you kidding?”

 

“Whoever gave this instructions, is really good”

 

“So you can get the account information now”

 

“If I can figure this out” Garcia says and literally seconds later she has an address. By accident there’s a SWAT team close. They have our Unsub in custody very soon and Mr. Chernus is saved.

 

One Agent brings Lyov Lysowsky up to our floor and another one will bring Mr. Chernus up when Lysowsky is in the interrogation room. Natalya and Mrs. Chernus insisted on waiting for their husband/father in the bullpen. Garcia, JJ, Hotch, my Mother and I are also waiting in the bullpen.

 

When Lysowsky is walked through the bullpen he tells Natalya “Natalya, why don’t you tell them your real part in this?” while we are a bit distracted Lysowsky manages to knock out the Agent who was holding him. I see him running towards us from the corner of my eye and within a split second I decide to stop him.

 

I tackle him with a good tackle, but he simple turns and punches me in the face. I’m able to block his next punch as I punch him myself. Every Agent has their gun out, but we’re too close to each other for someone to take the shot. After about two minutes we’re still fighting, we’re both getting weaker and I’m sure both of us will be black and blue if we live to see tomorrow. Somehow we have ended up in a spot where no-one can really get a good angle. He’s straddling me now; I bring up my knee and catch him in the spot that really hurts. The rolls have turned I’m standing over him now, but before I can do something, he brings up both his feet. He places them on my stomach and sends me flying through the air. I hit a desk and I know that if after all these impacts I still have no broken or cracked ribs I’m really lucky. A good thing about his last move was that it gave multiple Agents the chance to put a bullet in him. Natalya runs towards him, but is stopped by Hotch who then continues to arrest her for assisting in a kidnapping.

 

 

_"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Leo Tolstoy_

 


	10. Honor Among Thieves Part II

**Elizabeth P.O.V.**

Emily scares the heck out of me when she tackles Lysowsky. At first I’m pissed that no-one takes a shot, but when I notice how fast they change positions I’m glad that no-one has pulled the trigger yet. I’m relieved to hear shots being fired after he has sent Emily flying. I didn’t even realize that I had been holding my breath until I let out a sigh of relieve. I look over to where Emily has landed and I’m getting very concerned when I don’t see her standing yet. Both Agent Jareau and I head over to her, she’s sitting on the ground while holding her ribs with one hand and her head with the other. I see that she has a split lip and a gash on her cheek. I also guess that she will be black and blue by tomorrow.

 

“Emily, are you okay?” I ask and she looks up with a surprised look, most likely because it was a long time ago that I asked her a question with the same concern in my voice as I have now.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine” she answers after a little moment

 

“Emily, you are clearly not fine” Agent Jareau argues. Emily opens her mouth to protest, but is cut off by Agent Jareau “No arguing, you are going to hospital and you’re going to get checked out” Agent Jareau says this in such a final tone that I really hope that Emily will just listen to her, but one look in Emily’s eyes and I know that she’s not going to give in, yet.

 

“I’m sorry JJ, but that is not your call. You are not my boss” Emily says with a smug look on her face, but that look is quickly whipped of when Agent Hotchner enters the conversation.

 

“JJ might not be your boss, but I am and you are going to get checked out. I want JJ to go with you to make sure that you’ll actually do it”

 

“But Hotch-” Emily tries again, but is cut off

 

“Agent Prentiss, you’ll go to the hospital and that is an order” Agent Hotchner says and I’m glad to see that Emily still knows when to stop pushing. She pushes herself of the ground and says “Fine. JJ, we’re going” and she walks out with Agent Jareau following her.

 

“It was nice to see you again, Ambassador Prentiss” Agent Hotchner says

 

“It was good to see you too and thank you for your help” I tell him before turning around and leaving the bullpen. I smile when I hear Agent Garcia say “Now I know where Emily’s stubbornness comes from” and she is absolutely right with that statement. I hear the rest of Emily’s team chuckling after that statement.

 

When I enter the hospital I see Agent Jareau waiting in the hallway, I walk towards her and ask “Do you already have any news?” she jumps a little at my question, I don’t think she heard me walking towards her.

 

“Not yet, they’re going to make x-rays of her ribs and a CT-scan to make sure that there are no bleedings” she tells me, I nod and sit down in the chair next to her.

 

“Family of Emily Prentiss?” a nurse asks, both Agent Jareau and I stand up “The doctor is on his way to Agent Prentiss with the results, you can go to room 029” we walk to Emily’s room.

 

We see the doctor enter the room and just as he has closed the door we open the door again to come in.

 

“These are my mother Elizabeth Prentiss and a friend of mine Jennifer Jareau” Emily quickly introduces us “So what’s the verdict?”

 

“Your ribs aren’t broken or cracked, but you need to take it easy for the next few days. You don’t have a concussion and there are no signs of internal bleeding. So basically you’re fine, but you will be sore for a while”

 

“Can I go now?” Emily asks

 

“Yes” the doctor says

 

“Nice, Thanks Doc” she says before standing up and walking out of the room. I follow her while Agent Jareau thanks the doctor again.

 

“Emily, I’ll give you a ride home” I tell her when I see her standing in front of the hospital.

 

“Sure” she answers and follows me to my car

 

When we’re on our way I ask her “Emily, my security got a call from someone at INTERPOL that there’s a chance I’m in danger. Do you know anything about it?” I look at her and I know that she’s is cursing at someone in her head

 

“No, I don’t” she answers me, I know that’s she’s lying but before I can call her out on it her phone rings.

 

“Prentiss”

 

_“Emily, can you pick me up at the hospital. There was a small accident in the parking lot and my car isn’t driveable at the moment”_

 

“Absolutely, are you okay?” I hear her ask concerned

 

_“Yeah, just a few bruises from my seatbelt”_

 

“Alright, we’re on our way”

 

_“Thanks, Em”_

 

“No problem”

 

“Can we go back to the hospital; JJ was in a small car accident. She’s fine, but her car is not driveable at the moment”

 

**Emily P.O.V.**

 

When Mother and I are on our way back to the hospital I receive a message from an unknown number. I open it and I see a photo of JJ and her car, I already had an inkling that Jones was behind it but now I’m sure that it was him.

 

I’m dropped off at home first, JJ and Mother continue their way to JJ’s house. I enter my condo and I go straight to bed

 

**JJ P.O.V.**

 

When I’m home I turn on the radio and I hear a song that describes my feelings about Emily at the moment.

_That's how much I love you_

_That's how much I need you_

_And I can't stand you_

_Must everything you do make me wanna smile_

_Can I not like you for a while? (No)_

_But you won't let me You upset me, girl_

_And then you kiss my lips_

_All of a sudden I forget (that I was upset)_

_Can't remember what you did (But I hate it)_

_You know exactly what to do_

_So that I can't stay mad at you_

_For too long, that's wrong (But I hate it)_

_You know exactly how to touch_

_So that I don't want to fuss and fight no more_

_Said I despise that I adore you_

_And I hate how much I love you, boy (yeah)_

_I can't stand how much I need you (I need you)_

_And I hate how much I love you, boy (ooh, whoa)_

_But I just can't let you go_

_And I hate that I love you so (ooh)_

_And you completely know the power that you have (the power that you have)_

_The only one makes me laugh (one that makes you laugh)_

_Sad, and it's not fair_

_How you take advantage of the fact_

_That I love you beyond a reason why_

_And it just ain't right_

_And I hate how much I love you, girl_

_I can't stand how much I need you (yeah)_

_And I hate how much I love you, girl_

_But I just can't let you go_

_But I hate that I love you so_

_One of these days maybe your magic won't affect me_

_And your kiss won't make me weak_

_But no one in this world knows me the way you know me_

_So you'll probably always have a spell on me_

_Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah_

_That's how much I love you (how much I need you)_

_That's how much I need you (how much I love you)_

_That's how much I love you (Oh, need you)_

_That's how much I need you (I need you)_

_And I hate that I love you so_

_And I hate how much I love you, boy_

_I can't stand how much I need ya (I can't stand how much I need you)_

_And I hate how much I love you, boy_

_But I just can't let you go (but I just can't let you go, no)_

_And I hate that I love you so (ooh)_

_And I hate that I love you so, so_

 

A/n the song is ‘Hate that I love you’ by Rihanna and Ne-Yo

 


	11. No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank

_"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, my enemies for their good intellects." Oscar Wilde_

**Emily P.O.V.**

The last case officially sucked, I simply don’t know another word that describes it better right now. Gideon’s friend was murdered by Frank, who was angry because Jane left him, and at the end Frank and Jane committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train.

When we walked into the bullpen Strauss was waiting on us and said that she wanted to speak to Hotch and I. She wanted to see Hotch first, after about ten minutes he came out without his badge and gun. A few minutes later Strauss called me into her office and now I’m here waiting for her to start speaking. We have been staring at each other for about two minutes before Strauss starts talking.

“I put you in the BAU. I knew how badly you wanted it, everyone did. You were never exactly shy about letting us know, but there were those who thought assigning you to the BAU was not a good idea. They thought you were too reckless. I believed in you however. It is time to pay back the faith I had. Your team is in trouble, they have lost sight of the picture. I believe they are reckless and at times out of control. It is time for Agent Hotchner his career to come to an end and if you want to stay in the BAU, Agent Prentiss, you are going to help me make that happen. Let me know your choice before Agent Hotchner his suspension end” Strauss tells me

“Yes ma’am, you will have my answer soon” I tell her before walking out of the office. While I’m walking to my car I’m already cursing her in my head

When I’m home I finally let myself really think about what Strauss said. How much of a grudge can a single person have against one team? I don’t think that there are a lot of people who hate us as much as she does. I hate it that I got into the BAU because of politics, I hate politics all together. If Strauss thinks that her putting me into the BAU will make sure that I will help her get rid of Hotch, she is terribly mistaken. This team has becomes a real family to me, even though I haven’t been able to really show it because of Jones.

To be honest I thought about helping her for a second, but I could never do that to the team and if I were to do that, there wouldn’t be a chance in hell I could win Jay back when Jones is once again locked up. I already know what I’m going to tell Strauss, but I won’t tell her until Hotch is back. That bitch deserves to wait longer than necessary. I cannot believe that she is even trying to do this.

My thoughts drift towards Dean Jones. JJ was in a small car accident, Morgan, Reid, Gideon and Hotch all receive multiple calls and the only thing they heard was someone breathing and Garcia told us that someone tried to hack into our files, but luckily enough she was able to stop him. Since Jones hasn’t made a serious attempt on their lives, I don’t think he knows how much I really care about them.

**Reid P.O.V.**

It has been a week since I have used Dilaudid and even after this case I’m not craving for the weird comfort it gives me. Slowly but surely I’m working through it. I promise myself that I’m going to thank Emily somewhere within the next few days. Even after I let her stay outside when she came by for the first time, she continued coming by and I have never told her I really appreciate it. Her help in combination with talking to Ethan, about a month ago, gave me the courage and insight that I really need to stop. I know that I’ll lose my job if I’m going to continue this and it just isn’t worth the risk.

The third time that she came by and the first time I let her in she left some folders of AA meetings on my table. Two days after she left them I took a look at them and I decided that it couldn’t hurt. I never had much faith in such things, but for me it works even though I was a bit sceptic about trying it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter regarding season two, if there's any episode of the show you would like to see in the story, let me know and I'm sure I'll be able to work it in. Thanks for reading!


End file.
